Beautiful Julie. Mine are still laying there, figuring out whether they want to get up or not

Julie they look great.
Carolyn mine are the same just laying there. Hope they wake up soon. Also looking like I had a decent amount of losses , will give them some time to see if they show any signs of life.

You know Bob, it seems that every year I have losses and not just with the heuchs. I am thinking the dry, hot summers are the culprit.....

I'm scared to see what's left of my gardens this spring. To be honest, I went outside last weekend and I can't even see one single sign of life in any of my heucheras. It's not looking good - lot of the crowns have major damage. The rabbits and voles were so bad here this winter it was crazy. Add the large amount of snow and the 4 ice storms and it adds up to unhappy gardens.

Mine don't look very good either, Chris. I was surprised at how many look like a turkey necked violet. I checked and I don't see heaving, just turkey necks. Is this something that happens after the heuchs have been in the ground for a while? Funny thing is, I have my husband's grandmother's coral bells and they don't look like that. hmmmmm...... do you think that the cross breeding and whatever else they do to come up with new and improved colors could have done something to the growing patterns?

Carolyn22 said:Mine don't look very good either, Chris. I was surprised at how many look like a turkey necked violet. I checked and I don't see heaving, just turkey necks. Is this something that happens after the heuchs have been in the ground for a while? Funny thing is, I have my husband's grandmother's coral bells and they don't look like that. hmmmmm...... do you think that the cross breeding and whatever else they do to come up with new and improved colors could have done something to the growing patterns?

I'm wondering the same thing.

Mine are all down in Ohio still.

But come next weekend, weather permitting, they and my other plants will get moved up here to Michigan.

I just hope I have enough room for them all. This yard is much, much smaller than the one in Ohio.

But the soil is better draining and not prone to flooding.

The yard they are in belongs to my ex boyfriend, we decided to split in January but he told me come spring I can come get all of the plants I spent the last six years planting in his yard. Now they are going into my mom's yard, and I'm currently living at her house until I can find work up here and find a place of my own. She told me I can dig up as much of her yard as I need for my plants. I've been digging as much as possible in preparation for them the last few weeks, but this rain has put a damper on getting the yard ready. I need to dig another large bed and hopefully it will be enough for the time being.

Karen

Hi Karen, to the heuchera forum! Happy to have you here.

Do you have a large heuch collection? That sounds like an awful lot of work moving all those plants - hope you have some help. It's been pretty wet here too. First the snow started melting (and there was a lot to melt!) then it's pretty much been raining ever since. Tomorrow we're supposed to have a dry day too so I hope to get outside and check things out a bit better.

Carolyn, would not surprise me if all the new cross breeding weakens them. I would sure be disappointed if I lost them all in one winter.

Thank you for the welcome, Chris.

I don't have a huge collection, nearly two dozen huecheras and their family. I won't be collecting many more, if any, anytime soon due to yard size restrictions, and the lack of shade. My mom has one large silver maple in the yard that the village seems intent on cutting down, little by little like they did the other one, and she has a plum tree in the back. It's hard to grow anything in the front yard due to the 80+ year old silver maple, its roots have taken over the entire front yard, but the back yard is tree root free, but mostly full sun. Despite my saying I won't buy anymore heucheras, chances are one or two may follow me home at some point. It happens, those poor lost, homeless plants.

Karen

Well, you are to be commended for giving those poor plants a new home.

goldfinch4 said: Well, you are to be commended for giving those poor plants a new home.

Karen
Wishing that the rest of you find live plants this spring.

Welcome Karen.

Wondering what I should do with the turkey necked heuchs? Any suggestions? When the violets get that way, I break them off and then root them again and replant, thus getting rid of the turkey neck....

I am open to suggestions.

What I've done, if they aren't too bad along, is simply dig them up and plant them back in the ground again to the crown. My Amethyst Myst did this and I ended up dividing it into three plants while I was at it. I know heucheras are bad for this, and I'm guessing, but not positive, that the tiarellas and the huecherellas do not. If they are really bad, try breaking off a piece with a bit of stem left below the crowns and stick them in a pot to see if it'll root. Some critter last spring broke off the top of my Cherry Cola and so I thought, what the hey, and pushed it into the ground near the original plant. Lo and behold, it rooted, but it helped that the soil stay evenly moist the whole time it rooted. Momma recovered nicely, and baby was doing well last I knew. I haven't been in Ohio since February to see how my plants are doing. Hopefully the stupid squirrels haven't destroyed anything. I'll be so glad to not have to deal with them anymore.

Karen

Karen

I knew they would root if part of the petiole was still on what was being pushed into the ground. I may just lift them and sink them deeper into the ground - thanks

Karen I had that happen to my Cherry Cola last year and now it is just 1 leaf sticking out of the ground , not holding out much hope for it.

Had a chance to spend some time in the gardens today and things sure do not look good. Hoping that things will start showing signs of life in the next week or so , but my experience is that once these guys are gone you almost never see regrowth.
As far as the turkey neck ones they have survived replanting a bit more then half the time , but do not seem to make a nice plant again.

NJBob said: :
As far as the turkey neck ones they have survived replanting a bit more then half the time , but do not seem to make a nice plant again.

Well, I guess we will see then. It seems like it was a number of them that looked like this.... gooble, gobble...

Today I took some pictures of the heucheras- I'm right on the edge of zone 6/7 in VA, so the season may be ahead of yours in the northern areas. Several weeks ago, these looked horrible too and I despaired. But they have literally jumped out of the ground since we've finally gotten some warm weather. So hopefully the same thing will happen for you guys in the North once the weather abates! One picture reminded me of a discussion where some of you mentioned your heucheras had the "turkey necks" ( a term I'd never heard before) But I have divided many heuchs over the years and today I split a piece of Amber Waves that was showing this trait into about 5 new plants. Now all of the new pieces may not make it, but I'll bet that some of them will.
Here was the plant before dividing. See how scraggly it looks?

Here is the area after the original plant was divided. I believe it made 7 smaller plants.

Usually I get daylily pics very early AM but it was COLD today and I waited. Sun was too bright in some pics, will try to get better images another time.
Heuchera Beaujolais:

Heuchera Caramel:

Heucheras Citronelle and Miracle:

Heuchera Licorice:

H.Midnight Rose - definitely this one looks better in filtered light where you can see more pink.

Heuchera Pewter Veil. This one does best by far in nearly full sun. I started with 2 Pewter Veil on this border and now have 8. This one plant had gotten so big ( it wasn't divided last year) that I divided it today after getting this pic.

Here are Caramel, Citronelle, and Dolce Peach Melba.

H. Miracle and Dolce Peach Melba. Miracle looks different in another location where it gets a bit more sun.

H.Quilters Joy:

Heucherella Sweet Tea and H. Pewter Veil. The deer had eaten this one down to "nubs" this winter. Wasn't sure it would make it!

Bad lighting issues in this pic - sorry- and my cats follow me around. This is Pluffy near the garden entrance. Heuchs have really colored up well in the last week or so, they are growing like mad!

That is encouraging. Thanks for posting the pictures.

They look great . Good luck with the divisions.

They all look so good. Thanks for taking the time to show them.